Man-machine interaction and absenteeism.

Abstract

This study of a paper products factory was designed to provide objective data for the hypothesis that certain classes of industrial work cause alienation, using absenteeism as an index of dissatisfaction. A questionnaire was developed involving 38 distinctive features of man-machine interaction that characterized 40 different job-stations, involving a labor force of 230 male workers. Absentee records for a set of 6,000 man-work wks. provided the basis for the computation of absentee rates for each job station. Of the 40 job stations, those that embodied conditions where employees (a) set their own pace and/or (6) where they could adjust or correct the machine had less absenteeism associated with them (findings significant at .05 level of confidence, Mann-Whitney V Test).

Selected Factors Affecting Employees' Sick Leave Use

“…This finding supports similar findings by Fried, Westman and Davis (1972);Leczinsky (1972); Hackman and Lawler (1977);Johns (1978);Nicholson, Wall and Lischeron (1977); Mowday and Spencer (1981) and Ivancevich (1985). The definition of job autonomy for this study was the responsibility to choose procedures to be followed in one's work.…”

“…This finding supports those be Hedges (1977), Fried, Westman andDavis, (1972), Benardin (1977), and Bridges and Hallinan (1978), and contradicts studies by Metzner and Mann (1953), Argyle, Gardner and Cioffi (1958), Baumgartel and Sobol (1959), Walters and Roach (1971), Clark (1958), andScott andTaylor (1985).…”

Alcohol, Stress-Related Factors, and Short-Term Absenteeism Among Urban Transit Operators

“…Additionally, the ethnic and gender composition of the workforce in these industries is increasingly non-white and female, respectively. Given similar sociodemographic composition and environmental job conditions known to be associated with high absentee rates, [30][31][32] our findings are relevant to the study of short-term absenteeism in other blue-collar service industries.…”

Developing a New Measure of Work Alienation

“…Hirschfeld and Feild (2000) have equated both work centrality and identification as the polar opposites of work alienation, although Watson (2003) argues that people can be alienated from work only if they consider work to be central in the first place. The hypothesis that a certain type of industrial work causes alienation was studied using absenteeism as the index of dissatisfaction (Fried, Weitman, & Davis, 1972). Alienation has thus been equated with work dissatisfaction.…”